Federal court says jailing truant students is unconstitutional

Published 6:38 pm, Thursday, February 16, 2012

BROWNSVILLE — A federal judge in McAllen sided with the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit over Hidalgo County teenagers sent to jail for unpaid truancy fines.

“We have a crystal-clear ruling that Hidalgo County's conduct was unconstitutional,” said Lisa Graybill, legal director for ACLU of Texas. “Locking up low-income kids in what is functionally a debtor's prison compounds the very problem that truancy laws are supposed to address.”

U.S. District Judge Randy Crane issued the ruling on Wednesday, agreeing that the county “violated their federal due process and equal protection rights by failing to afford them an affirmative indigency hearing determination before incarcerating them.”

Crane awarded De Luna nominal damages of $1 for the constitutional rights violation, but did not award him compensatory damages. He said it would be up to a jury to decide on damages for Diaz.

Both of the plaintiffs were punished by then-Justice of the Peace Mary Alice Palacios. Palacios last year was convicted of official oppression in the matter and ordered to serve 60 days probation and pay $8,000 in fines.